Bevy of 3DS, Wii U announcements an exercise in Nintendo nostalgia

Link to the Past, Yoshi's Island, Earthbound and more familiar faces.

Nintendo has been milking its impressive stable of mega-popular franchises for so long now that we really shouldn't be surprised that today's Nintendo Direct online video presentation was devoted almost entirely to sequels, remakes, and rereleases of popular franchises. Still, it's a bit incredible how much Nintendo is leaning on established properties, rather than new game ideas, to populate the software market for the 3DS and Wii U.

Enlarge/ It's Link to the Past, but a little shinier than you remember!

Of course, a generation of fans who grew up on these Nintendo games aren't likely to care too much. Nintendo announced a direct sequel to the SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the 3DS today, using the same familiar overhead perspective and established Hyrulian world, while infusing it with new mechanics like the ability for Link to become a 2D drawing and scoot along walls. There are precious few additional details about the game, but I'm willing to bet a good portion of those reading this are ready to preorder for the holiday release right now just because, hey, it's a freaking Link to the Past sequel!

Many Nintendo console owners will likely have similar feelings about the new portable Yoshi's Island game Nintendo announced today. And the new 3DS Mario Party title, the new 3DS Mario Golf game, the new 3DS entry in the Mario and Luigi RPG series, the new 3DS Mario and Donkey Kong: March of the Minis game, the new 3DS Professor Layton game, the 3DS remake of Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Atlus' new 3DS Shin Megami Tensei game. Not to mention the new Wii U Pikmin game, which are now set for August 4, and the new Wario mini-game collection, Game & Wario, now set for June 23.

Then there's Nintendo's continuing focus on rereleasing older games as downloads for newer systems. Earthbound is finally coming to the Wii U Virtual Console in North America and Europe this year, fulfilling the long-delayed dreams and frothing demand of a large and loud sub-niche of the gaming world. It's a great game, and we're glad Nintendo is finally working to expose it to a much larger audience, but it's pushing 20 years old at this point.

Similarly, the Game Boy Color Zelda games that are coming to the 3DS Virtual Console in May, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, are almost old enough to be teenagers at this point. Oh, and we'll "soon" have the opportunity to rebuy select Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance games on the Wii U. Is this why we buy new Nintendo hardware? To be able to buy older games we might have missed the first time around?

The only truly new games Nintendo announced during its nearly 38-minute presentation were three titles from independent developer Level 5, including Bugs vs. Tanks, which was designed by legendary Mega Man developer Keiji Inafune. The brief glimpses of these titles showed a lot of the inventiveness and sheer off-the-wall craziness that Japanese game development used to be known for back in the early days of console gaming. But such titles were a depressingly small portion of Nintendo's presentation.

It's easy to understand why Nintendo relies on its established franchises so much. The company barely has to lift a finger to sell these games on their merits—the familiar name and concept will pretty much do that for them. Not that there's anything wrong with that kind of brand signalling as far as it goes. Nintendo has a reputation for treating its franchises with care and bringing out quality updates on a slower schedule rather than just cranking out a new, uninspired sequel every single year like some publishers. But that reputation only goes so far; the last Yoshi's Island remake on the DS, for instance, was merely mediocre.

No matter how good these familiar titles are, though, it's highly unlikely that any of them are going to show us anything truly new and unique. While there may be cosmetic differences and tiny gameplay tweaks to the established formulas, you basically know what you're getting when you go in to one of these countless Nintendo franchise titles. Usually you're getting something good, but rarely are you getting something really surprising or innovative. That's probably enough to sustain the 3DS and Wii U on its own, but it's not really enough to get us truly excited about the future of games on Nintendo hardware.

There's only one thing that could convince my fiancee and I to buy a WiiU, and that's a new Endless Ocean. Believe it or not, we sunk over a hundred hours into Blue World. It has a delightfully calming effect, and I love exploring the ocean. I keep waiting for a PC analogue, the closest of which is Depth Hunter, but I hate shooting fish.

The thing is, Kyle isn't alone. Whenever Nintendo tries to step out of the box (like releasing new IP or giving Link a train) people generally dislike it or ignore it.

Nintendo is giving their fans what their fans want. This isn't some corporate greed thing. People WANT remakes and sequels. They GREATLY OUTNUMBER the people who want new IP. Which is unfortunate, but it is the truth.

If going with things that your fans actually want, and outsell the alternative 3:1 is considered a "bad business move" perhaps some of you should get an MBA or heck, basic math classes.

When its announced that both the PS4 and NextBox will require net connections for gaming, Nintendo will really need to push the fact that they don't.

Then they need to announce Metroid Prime Hunters U, new game, etc. (yeah I know I'll get a lot of hate for suggesting a Metroid Prime FPS game, but the DS one was fun if you could get past the controls)

Then they should announce Super Mario Who, a Doctor Who Mario crossover.

Followed up by a Sega Game Chromehounds 2 which with the gamepad support will be awesome

[But all that aside, I think saying Nintendo never comes out with new IP is a bit disingenuous. Do they always release new or updated Mario & Zelda games on every platform? Yes, they do. Of course they do! But they also publish new IP somewhat infrequently. Otherwise we wouldn't have Pokemon, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, or Brain Age, just to name a few.

There's only one thing that could convince my fiancee and I to buy a WiiU, and that's a new Endless Ocean. Believe it or not, we sunk over a hundred hours into Blue World. It has a delightfully calming effect, and I love exploring the ocean. I keep waiting for a PC analogue, the closest of which is Depth Hunter, but I hate shooting fish.

This is really about the kids. Nintendo is primarily focused on creating games aimed at children just like they always have. Those of us who grew up playing their games know just how great those experiences can be, and new generations discovering them for the first time also enjoy them.

The real problem for Nintendo is that this strategy is narrow and only goes so far. I like nostalgia as much as the next guy, but hey I grew up. I expect more now than I did as a kid and if I've had that Mario or Zelda experience dozens of times already, I'll pass thank you. Nintendo is rapidly loosing gamers like myself that grew up on their games. I don't think they are gaining enough of the kids today who have access to so many more options than we did growing up either. I hate to say it, but long term, Nintendo is doomed to become a niche player in the market it helped create, most likely a software publisher along the lines of Sega.

Brain Age came out in 2006, the same year as another new Nintendo IP, Wii Sports. But even those are old compared to Nintendo titles like Pushmo (2011), Dillon's Rolling Western (2012) and Harmoknight (2013) which are routinely ignored by gaming journalists because they're not Mario.

The thing is, Kyle isn't alone. Whenever Nintendo tries to step out of the box (like releasing new IP or giving Link a train) people generally dislike it or ignore it.

Nintendo is giving their fans what their fans want. This isn't some corporate greed thing. People WANT remakes and sequels. They GREATLY OUTNUMBER the people who want new IP. Which is unfortunate, but it is the truth.

If going with things that your fans actually want, and outsell the alternative 3:1 is considered a "bad business move" perhaps some of you should get an MBA or heck, basic math classes.

Brain Age came out in 2006, the same year as another new Nintendo IP, Wii Sports. But even those are old compared to Nintendo titles like Pushmo (2011), Dillon's Rolling Western (2012) and Harmoknight (2013) which are routinely ignored by gaming journalists because they're not Mario.

Don't forget about Artstyle either. Those games interested me, I just didn't want to use Nintendo's terrible Digital Distribution system.

There's only one thing that could convince my fiancee and I to buy a WiiU, and that's a new Endless Ocean. Believe it or not, we sunk over a hundred hours into Blue World. It has a delightfully calming effect, and I love exploring the ocean. I keep waiting for a PC analogue, the closest of which is Depth Hunter, but I hate shooting fish.

It's not without its problems, but yeah, Endless Ocean is an awesome game of pure exploration.

People who complain about Nintendo never creating any new IPs are only saying that because they only recognize Nintendo's old IPs. Oddly, while these people complain about Nintendo releasing a new version of an old IP every generation, they don't seem to have a problem with Microsoft releasing five(!) Halo games in a single generation, six if you count the RTS.

I'm sorry, but I dislike the tone you've used for this article. Journalism this opinionated isn't my cup of tea.

You complain about Nintendo "milking franchises". I take several issues with this:

> Of course they will. They are a safe investment.> Fans want more.> Creating a successful new franchise is not easy. Please don't go on about all these 'great' indies. Yes, they have made some great games, but how many have gone on, or look likely to become a very well known franchise?

There seems to be a widespread misconception in the gaming community that all it takes is a snap of the fingers and *bang*; you have a brand new idea that many thousands/millions like and/or you have a game with the latest and greatest graphics, with a great story and brilliant gameplay. At least that is what it seems like.

Take for instance those complaining about a new Zelda for the WiiU not coming out in the near future. Skyward Sword, at least in terms of development time was only just released! Unless of course you really do want a milked franchise like COD (and to be honest, who can blame Activision when there is so much money in it). I'm at least grateful Nintendo seem to have at least some intention to do more than just milk their franchises.

Brain Age came out in 2006, the same year as another new Nintendo IP, Wii Sports. But even those are old compared to Nintendo titles like Pushmo (2011), Dillon's Rolling Western (2012) and Harmoknight (2013) which are routinely ignored by gaming journalists because they're not Mario.

Don't forget about Artstyle either. Those games interested me, I just didn't want to use Nintendo's terrible Digital Distribution system.

Exactly, though. Has Ars or anything short of Kotaku (or any 100% dedicated gaming site) paid any attention to games like Harmoknight or Artstyle?

Just because they are completely ignored doesn't mean they don't exist. In fact, it gives further verification that Nintendo SHOULD stay this route.

(I actually enjoy both, tbh. So I couldn't care less which path they take. But I think the argument that these titles don't exist are rooted in willful ignorance.)

Nintendo hasn't lost me as a customer, but they've lost my old habit of being a first adopter and a fanatic. I will probably never buy another portable game system. I will never lose interest in their games. Even re-hashed, their IP is amazing and the games are usually, at worst, above average. I will probably never make their console the primary one again though.

I won't prognosticate on their future because there are so many cultural gaps between what I want and the Japanese market, it's impossible to transmute success or failure in one place to the other (which Microsoft learned the hard way).

All I can say is that I no longer buy their consoles first. I no longer buy their games first. I no longer buy their portable systems, at all. I will buy the things I want, but I buy them later, less frequently, and for less money. It makes me concerned about their future, especially with the drastic drop in interest in the Wii U. I hope they succeed, as I always have. They have always been unique. The challenge is to do that in great ways, and to do that for a long time gets harder and harder every time.

I've seen comments implying Link to the Past 2 will be on the Wii U and the 3DS, but the article implied it would only be on the 3DS.

I can probably convince myself at some point to get a Wii U, but I can't see a reason (other that that) to own a 3DS.

And I love, love, love Link to the Past.

Dammit.

You really should give the 3DS a chance. It is an amazing handheld with some really really good games. I think angry bird style mobile phone gaming has led people to forget how much fun real handheld consoles can be.

Kyle, I think you're being quite unfair toward Nintendo in this case. Franchises sell. That's business. The exact same game with Mario in it instead of some random new character will sell vastly more due to the recognition of Mario. But on the flip side, that safety net of Mario to reassure consumers means that Nintendo has far more freedom to play with gameplay than something completely new because Mario's presence gives people a touch point they can orient to. Super Mario Galaxy did more to advance the 3D platformer than any game in the genre since Mario 64. Do you think a random RPG could get away with playing with typical genre tropes while still selling near what the Paper Mario or Mario and Luigi games do?

Plus, Nintendo doesn't milk nearly as bad as they get credit for. There have been a grand total of 5 3D Mario platformers (1 on N64, 1 on GameCube, 2 on Wii, 1 on 3DS). There have been 5 3D Zeldas (2 on N64, 1 on GameCube, 1 on GameCube/Wii, 1 on Wii). The "milked" NSMB series has 4 entries since 2006k, and only one per console. Mario Kart has 7 entries since the SNES. 3D Metroid? 4 entries including the DS spin-off.

In comparison the 360 alone has 8 Call of Duty games, 5 FPS Halo titles (plus Halo Wars), 4 Gears of War, 5 Assassin's Creed, 3 Forzas, 3 Dead Spaces, etc. The PS3 has 7 Call of Duties, 5 Assassin's Creeds, 3 Dead Spaces, 3 Uncharted entries, 4 Ratchet & Clank games (admittedly two of them downloadable, although both got disc releases in Europe), and you get the idea. It's relatively uncommon for Nintendo to release two entries in a franchise on one system and nearly unheard of to release 3 (only exception I can think of was the Mario Party milking in the N64/GC days, but even that's massively called down). The difference is that by limiting releases Nintendo has kept Mario/Zelda/Pokémon/Metroid relevant for 20+ years while the others burn the IPs out within a generation.

There's only one thing that could convince my fiancee and I to buy a WiiU, and that's a new Endless Ocean. Believe it or not, we sunk over a hundred hours into Blue World. It has a delightfully calming effect, and I love exploring the ocean. I keep waiting for a PC analogue, the closest of which is Depth Hunter, but I hate shooting fish.

Aquanauts holiday on the ps3 is quite similar, graphics are a bit better as well.I had an interactive screensaver thing on pc about 8 years ago that had a fullscreen game mode where you could just swim and explore a pretty large 3d ocean and seabed, complete with sunken u-boat and an elusive octopus. It was really relaxing swimming about, opening up new areas. When a new area was opened up in game mode, the screensaver bit would now meander gently through it as well as previously opened areas. Cant for the life of me remember who made it or what it was called though.

You really should give the 3DS a chance. It is an amazing handheld with some really really good games. I think angry bird style mobile phone gaming has led people to forget how much fun real handheld consoles can be.

I disagree, to an extent. Angry birds et al haven't made me forget that truly amazing stories can come from portable consoles can be. They've shown me that the cost of that system is greater than the rewards. Not only the actual cost of the console (apx. the same price as my phone when subsidized) and games ($40 vs $1-$5), but the hassle of having another device to tote around, another charger to remember, another stack of games to hold onto.

Mobile games can also deliver great gameplay/story. The key difference is that they are on a device I already use for everything else, they cost a hell of a lot less, and they're portable (I can play iOS games on an iPad, Android games...damn near anywhere, etc.)

Now, if Nintendo wants to make a phone that can be docked into a controller with extra battery life and physical buttons...

I know I'll get downvoted for this: But the tone of every single Nintendo-related article I see here on Ars is horrible. I mean, seriously Kyle, you've already made your point that you don't like Nintendo's current offerings, but sometimes it looks like you only focus on what (in your opinion) is bad, and completely ignore cool things like the many innovative games you can find on the eShop or the new fixes / features of the WiiU system software.

Zelda: A Link to the Past and Yoshi's Island are two of my favorite games ever. When I saw the headline about their sequels, I was surprised and excited more than I've been in a long time. For a split second it felt like a dream come true.

Then I saw the videos. There isn't much in them, but what I've seen looks... awful.

Graphically, they are both examples of the extremely generic, ugly "Nintendo 3D" that is seen in things like NSMB. It is a huge step back from the clean, beautiful pixel artwork of the originals (Yoshi's Island especially). They really missed the opportunity to use a more unique style, for example something like Super Paper Mario. For Zelda, at the very least make it cel shaded like Wind Waker! Yoshi's Story literally looks better than this.

Also, if you look carefully, you will notice that Nintendo is continuing the trend of making the player character larger on screen, effectively making the view "zoomed in". I first noticed this especially in Yoshi's Island DS, with it's (disappointingly ugly) new Yoshi sprite, which was just slightly larger than the original (and of course the DS screen is lower resolution than the SNES). The net result is that the gameplay suffers to make the graphics "prettier".

The gameplay and locations in the videos look almost identical to the originals. Yoshi's Island DS was much more original than this looks. It's like they literally told their teams "Make these games exactly like the originals, but in ugly 3D!" I guess that might be appealing to young players who would never touch the originals because they "look too old"?

The end of the Yoshi's Island video, with the huge egg, is just icing on the cake. "New features!" and it shows Yoshi throwing a GIGANTIC egg that just smashes through everything. It is exactly the same as the GIGANTIC mushroom in NSMB, though even worse since you don't even control the egg once it's shot! It is pure fanservice (or am I misusing the word?), fun for about 15 seconds then completely forgettable.

I'll probably end up playing them eventually anyway, if only out of curiosity. I guess it's better to start out disappointed than to get my hopes up. But it might take me a couple of years, for price drops on the 3DS and the games themselves.

The Earthbound on virtual console news, in comparison, is amazing. It also shows the proper approach to nostalgia: if you miss the original games, play the original games. With rare exceptions (like Mother 3!), new sequels/remakes to old classics are doomed to be disappointing (especially if they come from Nintendo).

But I guess at this point I am far from the typical Nintendo gamer, with no hope that they can ever match their NES/SNES era.

EDIT: I just remembered that, supposedly, the motivation for the original Yoshi's Island's crayon sketch art style was Miyamoto's protest againt the pre-rendered 3D of Donkey Kong Country. How sadly ironic that this new game completely betrays that legacy. I really have to wonder if Miyamoto had any involvement in these new games at all, or maybe just doesn't care anymore.

In related news, the Final Fantasy V iOS remake actually uses Amano style artwork for the character portraits (at least for speech bubbles), an exceptional idea by Nintendo standards. And their latest 2D FF remakes actually use pixel art!

There are a few issues with this piece. First is the fundamental one: this was *not* a Nintendo Direct for the Wii U. It was for the 3DS. Wii U stuff wasn't the point here, it was mostly a reminder that some new stuff is coming, if you want news on that then wait for a Nintendo Direct for that system.

The next problem is that the content isn't entirely accurate, both because of missing details and hand waving. Mainly these three points:1) There is no mention of Bravery Default. Why? You talk about how there are no new games shown yet Nintendo used this time to say that while Square Enix has chosen not to localize this game, Nintendo has taken it upon themselves to bring over this RPG. It's a new game and a new IP. If you talk about the lack of new stuff it's odd to ignore this. It may not be made by Nintendo, but not every game mentioned was and it's going to be published by Nintendo, so they do deserve a mention on it. 2) New Shin Megami Tensei was completely handwaved when it shouldn't have been. It's the fourth numbered game of the mainline series and kind of a big deal for the RPG series. Atlus has been gaining some traction stateside with Persona 4 and Catherine and look to be doing it with their main series. No mention of its 176 page book and CD to come with the first prints. Bundling it with "just another sequel" or "unlikely to bring anything new or unique" is wrong - especially the latter. The two RPGs are the biggest things missing here when talking about what the system has to offer. 3) No mention of Animal Crossing 3DS either. This may be a sequel, but it's a really popular game (especially in Japan where it has been top 5 for months now with no signs of slowing down) and has its own 3DS bundle. At the least, it's news that should be mentioned for completion.

Though complaining about some sequels is odd too. If the sequel to a game is one that was a decade ago or longer why is this such a problem? I can understand the yearly or bi-yearly complaints, but pushing Luigi to the forefront is rather new. A sequel to a near 20 year old game is good.

Nintendo Direct is used to tell you what's going on a regular basis with a couple surprises, it's not a platform they generally use for bigger items. For that we have conventions and specific events. For smaller things, like reminders or brief clips to hype, we have Nintendo Direct. Don't confuse that one the Wii U had with the norm.

Though complaining about some sequels is odd too. If the sequel to a game is one that was a decade ago or longer why is this such a problem? I can understand the yearly or bi-yearly complaints, but pushing Luigi to the forefront is rather new. A sequel to a near 20 year old game is good.

Personally, I disagree with this. With a sequel to last year's game, you know what you are getting: probably more of what you already like. In most cases it is made by the same developer, or at the very least, contemporary developers. How often is the sequel to a 20 year old game made by the same people?

The fact is that game design and tastes have changed dramatically in 20 years. Whether you just apply a fresh coat of paint or actually update the gameplay, you are bound to upset at least some subset of the original game's fans. What a lot of them (us) want is a sequel that stays true to the original and feels like it is from the same era, not from the modern era. In effect, if you want to make a direct sequel to a 1993 game, you need to pretend like it is 1998, not 2013.

For successful examples, look at Mother 3 (made by the same guy as Earthbound, many years later) or even Yoshi's Island DS (at least it keeps the same art style).

In comparison, suppose the original Super Mario Bros. never received its sequels. Then, decades later, New Super Mario Bros. was created as it's sequel. But I would much, much rather have Mario 3 and Super Mario World.

Could those games even be made today? I doubt it. Would people today even buy them?

Basically, the time has passed when most developers can be trusted to develop honest sequels to 20 year old classics. I think the best option available is to make something new, inspired by those originals.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.